Motorcycles

Many motorcycle enthusiasts are wondering if Ducati’s new Hypermotard is the perfect supermoto. The Hypermotard is Ducati’s V-Twin, 1100cc take on the supermoto concept. As such it’s been designed to offer all the excitement of a conventional supermoto, but with added style, practicality and usability. Up close, the Hypermotard is more muscular and purposeful than it seems in pictures. It’s also much smaller, more compact and has many more beautifully-detailed touches than you expect too.

The total effect of all this is to imbue the Hypermotard with a classy, expensive, even exotic air that stablemates such as the Monster or Multistrada have never quite managed. But here’s the best bit: the Hypermotard is also an affordable Ducati. It’ll cost a quite mouth-watering $11,495 U.S. when it hits showrooms in June. While the ‘S’ version is here at the end of the month and is $13,995 U.S.

Aside from the LCD multi-functional racing dash, there’s very little bike in your peripheral vision. It’s like you’re looking down from a window ledge on top of a skyscraper and initially it freezes you in the same way, you won’t even think about braking or cornering too hard for fear that you might fall over the edge. Once you have the feel of it you will be impressed with it and excited at the same time.

The Hypermotord also has a decently-proportioned seat, which is comfy for all day riding, while rubber-topped pegs and rubber handlebar mounts keep vibes away from the rider. The clutch action has been lightened by 30% compared to the 1100 Mutistrada, which makes life easier, too. Ducati chose this air-cooled twin-spark, two-valve 1078cc V-Twin engine compared to say, the old 999 lump, for a number of reasons.

The ‘DS’ motor is light to begin with, and thanks to a number of tweaks, including a dry clutch it’s another 1.6 kg (3.58 lbs) lighter. It produces a whole heap of torque at just 4750 rpm too. But there is a fine line between this 90-hp DS engine being a smile-igniter and a disappointment, and that’s all down to how much weight it has to push along.

It weighs a full 17 kg (37.48 lbs) less thanks to many of its components being honed, tweaked and lightened. At just 179 kg (394.62 lbs), the tank-empty weight is less than a road-going Supersport 600. But there’s no point in revving this engine, instead you need to ride the torque. Once you’ve scrubbed off speed with the Ducati’s incredibly powerful twin radial Brembo set-up, the trick is to tip into the corners with around 4000 rpm showing on the digital display.

From there it’s just a case of working the firm suspension hard, leaning to the edge of the Bridgestone BT-014 tires, completing the turn, and ripping out the other side. In the first three gears the Hypermotard will wheelie with all the urgency of a wild, smaller, single-cylinder supermoto. But with both wheels on the ground it is very stable in a straight line, too. The force of acceleration does diminish in the taller gears, but it’s still deceptively quick. The combination of the low-revving smooth engine and the small headlight surround somehow shielding you from much of the windblast, allows the Hypermotard to creep into three-figure speeds without you really noticing.

And here’s the real beauty of the Hypermotard. While conventional single-cylinder supermotos were never designed for the road, revving their bolts off at anything past 80 mph and slicing you in half with razor thin seats, the Ducati is happy cruising at fast A-road speeds. It sounds great too, is comfortable and its high level of finish makes it more stand in the garage and stare at it over a cup of tea once you’ve polished it-able than a supermoto.

But although Ducati has managed to deliver all the benefits of a fun and lightweight supermoto and mixed it with some Bologna style, the Hypermotard still suffers from a typical supermoto downside: fuel range. Sporting a 12.4-liter (3.28 gallons) tank you’re going to be lucky to squeeze over 100-miles from a tank, which is why if you want a Ducati to do distance on, the Multistrada is still going to be more practical. But what bike doesn’t have at least some faults to it.